Potential of Man and Moblin
by karkashan
Summary: LoZ: In which the Moblin King, the Emperor of Malice Ganon IV, converses with a young princeling who dares to challenge his rule. Oneshot.


Potential of Man and Moblin

Sighing with effort, Link fit the overly large key inside the ornate, and in his opinion tasteless, door lock. Grunting slightly, Link turned the key inside the lock 360 degrees until he heard and felt a very satisfying click.

Stepping back to let the door lock and chains to fall to the ground, Link took the time to down a replenishing red potion. Once he felt refreshed he fitted his trusty shield back onto his arm. Link's gaze narrowed as the large twin oak doors swung inwards as if to welcome him inside the dark throne room. Steeling himself, Link did just that.

Through the doors was a dark hall that seemed to stretch into the infernal chasms of darkness and into infinity itself. Large round stone pillars lined the red path that led to the throne, each one of these pillars was crafted from thousands upon thousands of human skulls that had been made harder than diamonds through obscene magics.

Link stepped back, disgusted, as he noticed what he once thought was a ruby red carpet that led to the throne was, in fact, layers upon layers of dried human blood that had forever stained the marble of the insidious hall in which it had dried.

The creak of a door moving was heard, and Link turned around just in time to see the twin oak doors slam shut behind him. He stared, fascinated, as the wood transformed itself back into stone. Within seconds, if Link had not known there was a door there before, he would never had known it had existed.

Turning back towards the throne, Link began to carefully make his way over to it. He noticed that the throne was surrounded by four torches that were lit by purple flame, a purple flame that gave off no heat or smoke, nor did it seem to consume anything at all.

A lone figure sat on the throne, garbed in ornate yet intimidating armor, the purple cloak that was a part of it pooling around his body as he sat in a very relaxed manner upon his throne, one leg crossed with his foot propped up on the other knee, a half empty wine glass in his hand.

"Ganon," Link said in recognition, "where is my sister?"

The aforementioned Moblin King ignored the young warrior, instead choosing to gaze upon the liquid contents of the crystalline goblet held within his hands. The incredibly lithe moblin breathed in deeply, as if he were simply sitting and enjoying a summer night's air, instead of the dank smell of ancient marble and human bone.

Link began to grow annoyed, "Answer me, Moblin! What have you done with Zelda?!"

The ruler on the throne tsked in a mockery of a caring manner. "Tsk, tsk, little prince. You never cease to amaze me with the scope of your lack of civility and manners." The Moblin King shook his head, "And not to mention that tongue of yours, that spews insults one moment and a lack of respect the next. That could get you killed someday, you know."

"What have you done, Ganon? Why did you kidnap my sister?"

The King of the Moblin Tribe snorted in derision, "Truly, the Goddesses gave any wisdom you may have had to your sister, little prince. I would think the reasoning behind my capturing her would seem fairly obvious, don't you think? There is the manner of the Triforce of Wisdom, of course, but we both know it's not as simple as that. She, as the heir to the throne of the fallen kingdom of Hyrule, is by her very nature an affront to my, shall we say, gracious rule of the above world."

"That is a rule that you have no rightful claim to, unlike my sister and Hyrule."

This made Ganon laugh long and hard. Once he finished, he drank the rest of the liquid inside his glass before throwing the clear object on the ground. A shattering noise echoed throughout the throne room, before a thumping noise was heard.

Before Link's own eyes, he watched as the shattered fragments of the crystalline goblet morph and change, growing in size with an alarming rate. As Ganon spoke once more, a Crystal Stalfos Knight readied itself for the attack. "I have no rightful claim to rule this world? Little prince, I don't quite think you fully grasp reality as it stands. I defeated you pathetic Goddess worshipers, driving you all into the caves of Hylia like the mindless sheep that you are. Don't you see? The only ones who can claim to have the right to do anything are the ones who hold power, power which you sorely lack, boy."

Link was given no opportunity to reply as the Crystal Stalfos Knight lunged at him. Parrying the blow with his blade, Link was quick to try to duck and roll so that he could attempt to attack the Stalfos' back. However, the crystal undead skeleton was quick to block the blow with its shield. Letting loose a hair-raising screech, it once again tried to relieve Link of his head. Link backflipped twice in order to dodge the attack before kneeling and hiding behind his shield. The Stalfos Knight looked at him strangely, before it glanced down at its midriff in enough time to see that a bomb had been shoved there before it blew up in its face, taking it with it.

Ganon chuckled darkly, "It seems I was right about you, little prince. As a reward for defeating my servant with such ease, I will grant you a moment's time with your precious elder sister."

And with that, a panel above the dark throne moved, revealing the princess of Hyrule herself, trapped behind a sheet of crystal pink glass. As soon as she spotted her brother, Zelda shouted out to him, "Link!"

Link took a step forward, "Zelda! Are you all right?!"

Link's elder sister nodded her head, "Yes, Link, I'm fine! I knew you'd come! Impa said that you were the destined hero, I just never believed it until now."

At this, Ganon snorted, "Destined hero, little princess? You believe in that prophecy garbage?"

Zelda huffed, "It's not garbage! The Goddesses themselves gave it to the royal family years ago. Not like you would know, foul monster of darkness!"

Ganon sneered, "That is simply what I led your family to believe when I handed the so called 'prophecy' to them all those years ago, little princess."

Zelda gasped, "What?!"

Ganon grinned, "That's right, little princess, the 'prophecy' that you have placed so much hope in your whole life was penned by my hands."

Zelda crumpled to the floor of her cell, "No," she whispered, "everything...everything was all just a lie?"

Link tightened his grip on the hilt of his blade, "Tell me, Ganon, why did you let me live when you had so many perfect opportunities to kill me?"

Ganon sat back in his throne, his eyes closed as he formulated an answer. "In the two hundred plus years in which I have lived, I have delved into the deepest pits of darkness, seen the most mind shattering insanities ever to have taken place, talked with the most evil of beings and essences, I have even discussed the failings of the Goddesses with the Dark God Nightmare itself. Using my own power, I have accomplished more feats, I have defeated more foes, I have spread more evil, and I have defied the Goddesses in more ways than even the Mandrag himself did with the power of the completed Triforce at his command. The taint of Darkness has been spread to the farthest reaches of the world, something that no one has seen since the initial onslaught of the Nightmare. I know what makes this world tick and have it dancing to whatever tune I so wish it to. Yet, there is one thing that has forever eluded me. Do you know what that is, little prince?"

Link steadied his fighting stance as the Moblin King leaned forward in his throne, his two beady eyes glowing red in the darkness.

Zelda stared on at the scene in morbid fascination.

Ganon growled deep inside his throat, "What eludes me is this, little prince: the potential of the human race. For the most part they are a simple enough species, as evident by how easily I was able to herd them like cattle and force them down into the caves to spend all of eternity. And yet, there are some who have been sporadically able to achieve things that even the Goddesses themselves thought impossible. They are able to maximize their understanding, audacity, and strength; and then they proceed to shatter what was previously held to be the limit of their potential. But not only humans do this, no, I have seen Zora, Goron, Dwarf, Moblin, I have seen them all attain things that are seemingly impossible. That when it occurred to me: What is Man, exactly? Man is a being capable of thought almost on par with that of the Goddesses, and can shatter the limits placed upon him by those very same deities."

"So you're saying," said Link as he shifted his weight slightly, "that we are all human?"

Ganon grinned maniacally, "Exactly, little prince. You've hit the metaphorical nail on the head. But more importantly, little prince, I have figured out how it pertains to us both. Back when you escaped from my contingent of Moblin Elite on the border of the Lost Wood, you wondered why I did not kill you when given the perfect opportunity. I knew you could become a threat to me, little prince, I could practically smell the stench of those three Goddesses upon you, feel their influence as they tried to shape you into their champion. And they did, for a time, but when you dispatched the Manhandla, both they and I knew that you had transcended the role of a simple 'destined hero'. The Goddesses thought then that there was no possibility left for me to win against you, as they were sure in the limits of my potential. However, they were fools. They did not realize that I simply allowed you to grow so that they would once again fall asleep, at peace with their creation as they once again foolishly thought that everything had gone according to their plan. They did not realize that while you have gone past the limits to your potential as a Champion of Light, that I have also, as a human being, broken through the limits of my potential as a Dark Lord."

"You're wrong, Ganon," said Zelda, "you have not broken through your limits. You've simply stretched them by using the Triforce of Power."

"And that, little princess, is where you are wrong. Until now, I have never used the awesome power of my piece of the Triforce. However, I think now is as good a time as any to begin to do so."

And with that, Ganon stood from his throne and held out his hand, and within the space of a heartbeat a malicious trident was in his hands. The trident was as long as he was tall, though it was in actuality two heads taller. A grotesque relief was formed at the trident's top. The relief depicted the three Goddesses of Hyrule in the throes of agony, with a blade of the trident 'impaling' itself through each deity's head. This was the ultimate mockery of the Goddesses, the fabled Trident of Power.

A brief flash illuminated the darkness of the throne room, this time coming from Ganon's right eye. For in that right eye shone the Triforce of Power itself. Ganon chuckled darkly, "So ends the line of the Hylians Kings and Queens of Hyrule. Pity 'twas not shorter."

------------- -------------- ---------------

FIN

AN: Legend of Zelda (NES) – My take on it. It's not (exactly) canon, but then again, no fanfiction is.

Explanation (A.k.a. Back story): In this version, Ganon had, fifty years ago, driven the good peoples of Hyrule from their land, forcing the survivors to live in an expansive yet intricate network of caves. Luckily, the Royal Family had perfected the magics that would grant their people artificial suns in order to grow crops, but the ever present danger of the Moblin Tribe and the armies of darkness meant that is was never wise to grow too comfortable or attached to one area.

This is the era that our hero is born in. He is the younger of two children, his elder sister being the next in line to the throne of Hyrule. That is, if Hyrule still existed, she would be. Link was brought up believing that it was his destiny to protect his sister and one day bring about the end of the Moblin King's rule. However, the prophecy that told him all of this didn't turn out like he had read. From his sister being kidnapped to his parents being slain, nothing was happening as it should be.

Therefore, Link decided to simply shed his destiny and try to just save his sister. So he visited one of the last remaining descendants of the Wise Men of Old, an Old Man who had a sword that Link could use...


End file.
